Inter-county, or inter county is

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include t ...

(GAA)

terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, compound word, or multi-wo ...

which refers to competitions or matches between counties, as used in Gaelic games (differently from legal counties). The term can also be used to describe the players on the teams. The first inter-county competitions the

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

and the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship took place in 1887.

County team A county is a geographic region within Gaelic games, controlled by a county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and originally based on the 32 counties of Ireland as they were in 1884. While the administrative geography of Ireland has ...

s select the best players from the clubs within the county, a practice which began in 1892. Before 1892 the winner of each counties club championship would represent the county in the All-Ireland championships. The inter-county season begins in January with each

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

's warm-up competition and ends in September with the All-Ireland final. The GAA's inter county competitions are the organisation's most attended competitions and are Ireland's most attended sporting events, while the All-Ireland finals are the most watched. and the

All-Ireland Football Final The All-Ireland Men's Senior Football Championship, the premier competition in Gaelic football, is an annual series of games played in Ireland during the summer and early autumn, and organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Contested ...

is the most watched event in Ireland's sporting calendar. Usually each of the 32 GAA counties in Ireland participates in the inter-county leagues and in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship; Kilkenny does not compete in the

, and Cavan does not currently compete in the National Hurling League, though Fingal (part of Dublin) recently did.

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

also competes in the hurling and Gaelic football championships and leagues, winning the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship once in 1901,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

competes in the hurling championship only, while New York competes in the Men's Football Championship; in the past they also competed in the Hurling Championship. The British Provincial Council organises inter-county competitions for the seven counties under its control on the island of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. The British Provincial Council is the only area outside

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

to organise regular inter-county matches. Changing clubs between counties is known as an ''inter-county transfer'' and is regulated by the Provincial council if the clubs are in the same province, or by the central council of the GAA when the transferring between clubs in different provinces. A special transfer is available for students going on a

J-1 visa A J-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa issued by the United States to research scholars, professors and exchange visitors participating in programs that promote cultural exchange, especially to obtain medical or business training within the U.S. All ...

, which allows a temporary transfer to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, New York or North America.

Travel ban

Inter-county travel is movement from one

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

to another. It became a feature during the

COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland The COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Republic of Ireland, it has resulted in 1, ...

when restrictions (including a travel ban) were imposed.

References

{{Gaelic Athletic Association Gaelic Athletic Association terminology Gaelic games culture